Finally–Him without She (mostly). One of America’s best songwriters and guitar players, M. Ward, will release his first solo album in three years,  A Wasteland Companion, on April 10th.  He (Him?) has many great companions on the album, including Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb (piano), John Parish (percussion, marimba), Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis (organ), She (vocals), Norfolk & Western’s Adam Selzer (bass), Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley (percussion), Dr Dog’s Tobey Leaman (bass), Devotchka’s Tom Hagerman (strings), and Oakely Hall’s Rachel Cox (vocals), amongst others.

Ward plays the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tonight and then will be at Soho here in Santa Barbara on April 14th (with fIREHOSE opening!).  Get your tickets quick over at Club Mercy.  The full list of tour dates follows the video below.

Yesterday, M. and Merge Records released a very cool new animated video (directed by Joel Trussell) for his song, The First Time I Ran Away.  The song reminds us of the good ole Transfiguration of Vincent days where Ward’s reverb-laden, world-weary vocals just wash over you and leave you marveling.  Check it out.

M. Ward on tour:

Feb 2 Los Angeles, CA Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Apr 11 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Apr 12 Santa Cruz, CA The Cocoanut Grove Ballroom
Apr 13 Indio, CA Coachella **SOLD OUT**
Apr 14 Santa Barbara, CA SoHO
Apr 16 San Diego, CA Belly Up
Apr 17 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
Apr 18 Flagstaff, AZ The Orpheum
Apr 20 Indio, CA Coachella **SOLD OUT**
May 5  Portland, ME State Theatre
May 6  Burlington, VT Higher Ground
May 7  New Haven, CT Toads Place
May 8  Boston, MA House of Blues
May 11 New York, NY Webster Hall
May 12 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
May 13 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
May 15 Durham, NC Duke Performances at Page Auditorium
May 16 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre
May 17 Atlanta, GA Buckhead Theatre
May 22 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
May 24 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue

Jonathan Richman supports 4/11
fIREHOSE supports 4/12, 4/16-4/18
Lee Ranaldo Band supports 5/5-5/22

For it’s 100th session, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and band hopped into the Black Cab and went for a two-song ride.  Check out the performance below of the appropriately titled Black Captain, and then go over to the Black Cab Sessions channel and watch the cuckoo Coconuts.  On the former, BPB’s voice cracks then carries, but the harmonies on the chorus are crackling-fine.  On Coconuts, awards must be in the offing for BPB and crew avoiding cracking during the quadruple-entendre lyrics.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. showed up on Conan last night and made their television debut with a performance of our No. 66 Best Song of 2011 (hey, you should hear the high quality of the songs that didn’t make the Top 70!), Simple Girl.  No matter what you think of this Detroit band’s questionable name, there’s no denying their vocal and compositional chops.  Check out in particular the fine vocal-gymnastics that transpire from 2:46 to 3:01 in the performance below.  Sounds like the Beatles speed-dating the Beach Boys in 2012.

The wondrous Nada Surf performed new songs Waiting For Something and Hi-Speed Soul off of their brand new album, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy, on the Jimmy Fallon Show last night.  Check ’em out below (courtesy of the Audio Perv).

In a battle of Euro-divas, Florence and the Machine and Lykke Li were featured on last weekend’s episode of Austin City Limits. Each are talented in their own way, but are occasionally prone to excess. The battle for the viewer might be to decide which is less excessive. Check out the full episode below and let us know.

Watch Florence + The Machine / Lykke Li on PBS. See more from Austin City Limits.

Sharon Van Etten will release her album, Tramp, on February 7th via Jagjaguwar.  As reported earlier, the new album was recorded with The National’s Aaron Dessner, and includes a stellar cast of Brooklyn-centric musicians (Bryce Dessner, Beirut’s Zach Condon, The Walkmen’s Matt Barrick, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, Julianna Barwick, and Doveman’s Thomas Bartlett.  Stream it now over at NPR. 

Conor Oberst showed up recently at a new Omaha bar, Krug Park, owned by one of Oberst’s Omaha pals.  Twenty-Four Bit points out that videographer Jonathan Tvrdik (via NJ Underground for some reason), captured Lenders in the Temple and Laura Laurent from the show. Check out the hirsute Oberst, with fine accompaniment on vibraphone and violins, in the intimate setting below.

Eleanor Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces had one of our favorite songs (My Mistakes–check out a great acoustic version HERE) and albums (Last Summer) of 2011.  Friedberger is bringing her band (Matt Asti of MGMT, Ahmed Gallab, touring member of Yeasayer and Caribou, and John Eatherly of Be Your Own Pet and Turbo Fruits) out west for a mini-tour.   She we will also join the Portlandia tour as a “Special Guest Musician.” Full dates for both listed way below!

To commemorate, Matador Records has offered up a special 5-song download of live tracks, along with a Bob Dylan cover (True Love) via the widget below.  She also premiered her new video for Heaven yesterday over at The Awl.  Oooh, spooky!

the Eleanor Friedberger band on tour:
Feb 2 San Diego, CA Casbah
Feb 3 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour
Feb 4 San Francisco, CA The Independent
Feb 7 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Feb 9 Seattle, WA The Crocodile

We included South African artist Spoek Mathambo’s video (see way below) of their Joy Division cover (She’s Lost Control) in our Best Videos of 2011. On March 13th Mathambo will release his sophomore album and Sub Pop debut, Father Creeper. You can check out the first released song, Let Them Talk, by inserting your email address into the widget below and downloading (alternatively, you can play it right below the widget).  We like the variety and movement in the new song (everything from rhythm-and-rap, to New Order synth-bass, to Gang of Four-guitar clatter starting at 3:43).  Download and check it out.  There will be crossover.